Nuclear skills 'under-exploited'

11 May 2012, 11:26

There is expertise within the region's nuclear industry that
should be exported globally but is not currently being promoted to
its full potential, energy minister Charles Hendry told 750 guests
at the annual dinner of the Nuclear Institute North West branch on
Thursday.

Hendry, minister of state for energy and climate change, said:
"I am convinced there are highly skilled people here that we
can take to the world and make the UK the kind of global player
that we haven't been before."

Charles Hendry

Hendry told a packed banquet hall at the Point, part
of Lancashire County Cricket Ground, the North West could become
"the most innovative place for nuclear power in the
world".

The region is home to an estimated 300 nuclear-related
businesses employing half of the UK's 45,000 nuclear workforce,
many in clusters in Birchwood, West Cumbria, and West Lancashire.
The decommissioning programme of Sellafield alone is worth
£50bn and is scheduled to last more than 100 years.